A Methane Pipeline Destined for an Empty Field

Texans know the home seat of Calcasieu Parish, a place we would call a county seat, and you can hear the Louisiana accent when reading its name, Lake Charles. It’s popular for cajun good eats, friendly people, casinos and of course, the petrochemical industry. These cypress-lined bayous are also at the center of cancer alley and known as a sacrifice zone, where environmental racism has taken root. Yet, big oil and gas poisons anyone in its way and with this has led to some of the nation's highest cancer rates in our neighboring state to the east. It doesn’t matter who you are, the intoxicating, polluting smells overbear that delicious po-boy. Even more concerning, another compressed methane (LNG) pipeline is on the horizon, coming from the ‘friendly state’ next door. It’s destined to darken many communities and our combined efforts to fight against the global climate crisis.

This spring, Moss Lake Partners requested a pre-filing to advance a 690 mile, high intensity pipeline project, planned to stretch nearly across the entirety of Texas. It will sprawl from close to Texas’ highest peak and already air-polluted Guadalupe Mountains National Park, through the Permian Basin and Central Texas, near Waco, then continue north of Houston and beyond. But unlike well-known Chevron and Exxon Mobil, who are now rebranding themselves as the economy’s backbone, this obscure “independent energy infrastructure company focuses on midstream logistics” and links “low-cost producing regions with high-demand consumer markets.” Still we know, the De La Express Pipeline is just another means for oil and gas propaganda, profits over people, and it’s coming to a billboard, newspaper, social media advertisement and perhaps a backyard near you.

Action for the Climate Emergency, Facebook

Billionaire oil and gas executives and companies have it hard

For much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved fossil fuel projects without a second thought, noting the public’s benefit. FERC has mirrored the industries’ arguments that energy independence strengthens national security, and low prices and energy reliability defend a rubber stamp. Yet as America and more so Texas has ballooned to be one of the world’s largest producers of natural gas, their arguments no longer hold water. Yes, fracking in West Texas is not only drying up the state and increasing greenhouse emissions at an alarming rate, but you and I no longer benefit from this ample supply of energy. Our electricity prices don’t get lower as more countries, many of them adversaries, vie for our dinosaur juices. Instead, our price to turn on our heat, A/C, and lights have actually risen substantially in the past decade with more drilling.

With this, Texas oil billionaires, who predominantly support Republican, far right efforts to “drill baby drill,” are now lobbying politicians in both parties and the American people to ship their gas overseas to bring in more cash for their already greedy cushions afloat in decades of windfall profits. They’re asking you to rubber stamp this project and more, giving them permission to turn much of the state into our very own sacrifice zone. This isn’t a far away problem; our beloved Gulf Coast and Hill Country as well as your health are all at risk. Further, now is your chance to tell FERC this very message. 

Office of Public Participation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Instagram 

Why should you show up against the De La Express?

Besides the facts that more LNG export terminals fed by this and other pipelines will increase the prices you pay for electricity and that there’s no substantial natural gas appetite among our allies around the world, the De La Express will decrease Texas property owners’ values and damage environmentally sensitive regions like the Big Bend and Colorado River. Additionally, this plan places highly explosive, compressed solvents right next to populated areas and at least one school; Northside Elementary in Cleveland, Texas, is less than 1,000 feet away from its boundary line. Remember y’all, LNG is an odorless, flammable, and dense gas that can cause deadly asphyxiation. Further, as Gulf and West Texas Community Organizer Jon Copeland put it, “There is insufficient domestic demand for this gas, so FERC should not grant the power of eminent domain to take private land for its export.” He’s saying, you get sick and pay more while oil tycoons make bank. 

FERC e-library via Coleman Today

Communities throughout Texas and Louisiana are counting on your vocal opposition, and if anyone is going to stop this company and its run-away plan to bring higher rates of cancer to your hometown while walking in the opposite direction of fixing the human-induced climate crisis, it’s you. Please stand with a coalition of community and state-wide based organizations against the De La Express Pipeline at a FERC public meeting this month. It might be our only chance at reversing Texas hosting the next dystopian and hazardous superfund zone. And since you might be wondering, that empty field this planned pipeline is destined for, there’s another LNG export facility in the permitting phase for Lake Charles. Let’s fight like we live here.

What’s Next:

Stand up against the De La Express and Big Oil and Gas at a FERC meeting near you or file a complaint today.

Are you along the pipeline route and fighting eminent domain? Contact the Property Rights Pipeline Center.

Learn more about the LNG apparatus in Texas. Watch and share our Progress Texas’ Climate Justice Town Hall.